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> 21. Plant evergreen trees close to your home to block the winter wind.

Do not plant trees within 30 feet of your house. You risk damage from falling limbs and uplifting roots. Needles will shed ALL YEAR ROUND, you will find yourself sweeping the needles from your roof and gutters SEVERAL times each year.

> 25. There are attachments to vent your dryer inside your home so you don’t waste the heat and humidity.

Do not attempt if you have gas dryer, you risk death from CO poisoning. Venting dryer into house may make your house too humid, promoting growth of mold. Lint from dryer puts excessive dust into your house.

“> 21. Plant evergreen trees close to your home to block the winter wind.

Do not plant trees within 30 feet of your house. You risk damage from falling limbs and uplifting roots. Needles will shed ALL YEAR ROUND, you will find yourself sweeping the needles from your roof and gutters SEVERAL times each year.”

That is only true if you plant the massive varieties of evergreens, evergreens come in all types with different sizes they range from 5′ to 30’+. On a ranch 8′ pine trees would suffice.

“> 25. There are attachments to vent your dryer inside your home so you don’t waste the heat and humidity.

Do not attempt if you have gas dryer, you risk death from CO poisoning. Venting dryer into house may make your house too humid, promoting growth of mold. Lint from dryer puts excessive dust into your house.”

They make kits for electric dryers you can buy at the store, AND the author clearly noted that it is not intended for a gas dryer.

Although on another note I always see tips that state to turn your hot water heater down to the warm setting giving it a max temp. of 120°, NEVER a good idea whether you have a dishwasher or wash dishes by hand you want a minimum of 140° for dishwashing temps, ideally 165° for sterilization reasons. I prefer to risk a little bit of wasted energy than risk my health.

“Although on another note I always see tips that state to turn your hot water heater down to the warm setting giving it a max temp. of 120°, NEVER a good idea whether you have a dishwasher or wash dishes by hand you want a minimum of 140° for dishwashing temps, ideally 165° for sterilization reasons. I prefer to risk a little bit of wasted energy than risk my health.”

You are going to have to waste a lot of energy to actually achieve an effective kill of microorganisms. And if you wash dishes by hand you are going to need a long time to wash them to achieve an effective kill of any that may be present. Molds require 30 minutes at 140 degrees F., their spores up to 176 degrees F for 15 minutes. Others mold spores are killed within a range of 30 minutes at 140 F to more than an hour at 162 F. Yeasts can be killed in 5 minutes at 122 to 140 F. Salmonella bacteria require @ 90 minutes exposure at 140 degrees to reduce them to a non-detectable level. Staphylococci bacteria require 30 minutes exposure at 149 degrees. For true sterilization you need to use steam, not water, and then need to have an exposure period of at least 5 minutes for saturated steam at a temperature of 225 degrees Fahrenheit. That will kill the botulism bug.

Dishwashing requires a temperature of 160 -165 for the washing then a temperature of 180 -190 F for the rinse cycle. And don’t forget that the dishes should be air dried, stored in a clean location, and handled correctly (not touching the surface to be used, such as the inside of drinking glasses) with clean hands before using them again, or all that energy truly was wasted.

If you do use a dishwasher to wash dishes you could always take the extra step and plan ahead and turn your water heater up when you are going to do the dishes. I don’t have one but that’s what I do when showering and I’ve cut my water heater energy use in half judging from gas use during the summer months. Plus bacteria can develop heat resistance if not taken to the proper temperature for the correct length of time to achieve an adequate kill. Maintaining a lower temperature could prevent this heat resistance from developing in your water supply system.

Using a detergent, in a water solution involving the biocide chlorine, at a moderate temperature will do a fine job in protecting your health while saving energy in the process. The only reason that heat is used in washing dishes is to decrease the time it takes to separate dirt from what needs to be washed. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to boil your clothes to get them clean.

get ahead of ice damns on your roof. The best way to do this is to have your attic properly vented (also insulate the floor of your attic so that cold air doesn’t leak into the top floor of your house). If your attic space is too much warmer than the air outside, it causes the snow to melt and run off the roof. the eaves however are not warmer and the snow-melt then freezes at the edge of your roof and continues to build throughout the winter. This can create serious problems such as roof leaks and even partial collapse if your area get heavy snow fall.

If you don’t have the time or funds to do this (it can be a little costly) follow these steps:

-install roof heating cables to the edge of your roof in a zig-zag going up to the spot where the eaves meet the roof. This keeps the edge of your roof warm so no ice can form.

– If you see ice starting to accumulate take several nylon stockings (put a few inside each other for added strength) fill them with the ice melt you use on your sidewalks (do not use potassium-chloride based salt, it can damage your shingles) tie a rope to the end (so you can put them back down in the spring). Throw the “salt snake” up onto the edge of the roof so it hangs over the edge slightly. This will create a clear path for the water to run off the roof.

Turning your thermostat below 75 can make you sick in the winter. My kids, bf and I stay sick if the thermostat is below 75. Also the electric company and the family doctor have both said that keeping it below 75 is not good during the winter because the setting is too low and can cause you to get sick. I have a room with four big windows in it that I am about to put plastic covering over to keep the winter draft out that is currently coming in and making the room very cold. There are very few good tips in here but most of them are horrible, dangerous and can actually make you sick.

bacteria and virus make you sick, not temps. Who could hand wash dishes in140 degree water? A human would be burned. My dishwasher has a water heat booster. Also I had an indoor dryer vent in my last house, it was great because the inside gets so dry in the winter, esp if you have electric heat

It stands to reason that bacteria breeds in warmth, so when we started caring for medically fragile children, we kept our home at 70 during the day and 68 at night. We had a very low incidence of routine illness such as colds and flus. We were all comfortable and more alert, slept better and were more active. This was not done to save energy, it was to save lives-and it did just that.

We keep our gas at 70. Any higher and we can’t breathe. Me and two if our children have asthma and the cooler air helps use breathe. We have a large house that has huge rooms and it stays on the cool side but nothing that would make us sick. Cool air doesn’t make you sick, germs do.

Insulate your heating ducts. When doing this first wrap the joints to seal them with aluminum foil, not duct tape. Duct tape is not recommended when seal duct work. Then insulate them with duct insulation. This will get the heat to where it needs to go in the winter and in the summer will help to keep any air conditioned air cool until it gets to the interior of the home. The temperature of the air after it leaves the air conditioner is around 44 – 48 degrees, so having the air ducts sealed will help conserve energy in the summer months also.